Pause
by Midvalley Petals
Summary: The children with memories were very special, especially a certain few. The struggle of the children taken in by Gordon Rosewater, and what exact importance they would play in Paradigm.
1.

  
  
Pause: Prologue-   
  
  
Children's faint laughter could be heard from a far. A man approached a house, not a  
fairly young man, but a man of old age. Knocking on the door lightly, an occupant of  
the house opened the front door, baffled by this man's presence. The old man spoke a few  
words, as the occupant, a woman, opened the screen door for him to step inside. As   
he entered the house hold, a small child looked up at him, big blue eyes staring. The   
young girl appeared to be at a very young age, maybe three. The old man smiled, nodding at the  
mother, and picked up the child. The daughter cried loudly, protesting against the man's  
strength, so he put her down, and told her, "Go play!"  
  
The husband walked down the stairs, automatically recgonizing the old man. Looking a   
tad bit worried, he took his wife, and the old man into the living room. They all sat  
down, and began to talk. The child peeked in, ignoring the older man's request for her  
to go play, and spied on them. She was only three, she couldn't understand a thing,  
but by the looks of things, and by the look of her mother, it did not look good. She decided  
to run off and 'go play', anyway.  
  
Later in the day, the man was still there. The three adults were still talking, until the  
old man finished the discussion with a final sentence. "You're child will have the best   
future, I assure you." The husband stood up, and nodded. The wife got up, tears welling  
in her eyes, but went to go search for the young, blue eyed girl. The two men shook hands, as  
the old man looked towards the exit of the room.   
  
She saw her mother rush to her, picking her up, hugging her, and crying. The child was  
baffled by her mother's behavior, and just sat in her arms confused, until she saw her  
father and the old man walk in. The man had a small grin on his face, reaching to take  
her into his arms. A bit shocked by this, the child began to cry, as her mother hesitatantly  
hadded her 'baby' over. Before the mother pushed all the child's weight into the old man's  
arms, she whispered into the child's ear, eyes closed.   
  
"I love you, my dear, sweet angel." The child cried more hysterically, reaching back for her  
mother, giving a look of betrayal to her father, and protested as the old man carried her  
out of the house, and strapped her into a car seat of his car. She may have been only three,  
but she was smart. Attempting to get out of the car seat, she struggled with the bindings,  
and straps. Failure.  
  
-Owari  
  
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I don't own Big O, so don't sue. Hope you liked, and if you do, review, please. ^_^  
  
Gwen B. 


	2. Chapter 1- Mortality

Pause- Chapter 1- Mortality  
  
_And the 'lies' fed to us only come down to whether we exist or not. Our existance seems like a paradigm; set up in orderly fashion, predicting our next move. My existance seems quite unmoralistic._  
  
The day had been oddly cold, the skies were grey with saddened expressions, and the child chosen had been crying. After the struggle with Gordon Rosewater, the blue eyed child had refused to obey her now guardian. Infact, it had been one year since she had left her home, her mother and father. Yet, the child was persistant. While she had yet to be confirmed of whether she was going to be one of the 'top priorities', she appealed to the researchers, and especially Gordon Rosewater. The child was unbelievably smart, making a sketch into her mind as to who came into the 'institution', namely nine other children, about her age, and same ammount of fear.   
  
"Mr. Rosewater, this child is progressing higher than the other's. He seems to show more skill in _that area_. What are you going to do?" One of the main researchers informed the head of the operation, Rosewater. The blue eyed girl, at age four, sat on an almost counter like table, listenning to every shread of their conversation. The man thought his whispers couldn't be heard, but he was sorely mistaken.   
  
"Mark the child down for possibilities for it." Rosewater spoke, low toned, almost monotone. After the researcher left, Rosewater walked to his patient, smiling gently at her. "Child, how long are you going to keep this up? I've secluded you from the other nine, only because you have refused my teachings." The child did not speak, almost as if she couldn't. "I know you can talk, don't try fooling me. You've been around me, and my researchers long enough for you to develop speach." And still persistant, the child ignored his request. "Melody Hargrove, why won't you talk to me?"  
  
"That is not my name..." The child spoke out blatantly, the only words she had spoken for a long while. Rosewater, taking immediate reaction to this, stepped closer to her, almost hover.  
  
"Then, what is your name, child?"   
  
"I can't remember." After the child's words, he just nodded, stepping back, and reassuring himself.   
  
"Do you want to be with the other children? You are the only one of them who is rebelling. I'm sure you don't want to be alone." 'Melody' just sat there, as if about to cry. Her position she was in seemed uncomfortable, as if she was nervous. Perhaps the child was. It had only been a year since she was taken from her mother, betrayed by her father, and brought to this place; the place were she had not been familiar with, the place she hated to be at. Liked it or not, it was her new home. "Come, child, I will take good care of you. If you come with me now, I will make sure you will never be sad while here, your memories will be no more." Gordon just smiled, openning his arms wide. He would easily embrace her if only by confirmation from the child. Awaiting her answer, while she thought, he hoped she would be persuaded. She would no longer have any of her former memories, he would erase such things. She hadn't needed them, he was her father now. With her slight nod, he slowly hugged the child. Success.  
  
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2 Years later...  
  
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Daily activities. The time: 2:30 PM, exact. This time would notify the ten children that it was skill building. The children had a daily schedule, from 8:00AM-6:00PM, and after that, they ate, and went to the sleeping quarters. However, they never went to sleep when they were told to. The children stayed up, telling each other stories, bonding with the only other people they ever knew. Sure, they were between six-eight, but because of their heavy training, and such, their maturity level was up to the maturity level of a ten-fifteen year old. Each of them had been shaved bald, however, each of them had their own eye color. Gordon Rosewater knew who each of them were by their facial features, their body height, weight, ect. He was like their father, but in many ways, he wasn't.  
  
"Okay, children. I want you to direct it towards the city, back it up, swing, and then leave, with minimal damage. Get to work, you have ten minutes." With his final words, he walked out of the room, shutting the door quietly. However, he cracked it open to make sure they did their work. They were children, after all. A researcher approached him, code name: Darrell Smith, only known to the children as Smithy. Yes, it was his nickname, curtiousy of the head child. They never really had names, they had been assigned numbers, with a barcode. The barcode wasn't used at all, the children just supposed it was there for decoration. Because of this predicament, they named themselves.   
  
"Hey, N-chan..." A girl whispered over to one of the older, taller children. He ignored, with his head equipment on, his eyes covered by the goggle like technology. "N-CHAN." Persistant, she still whispered, until she took the equipment off, stood up, and yelled across the room. "Hey, N-chan!" Disturbed, the children looked up at her, a few laughing, her smiling, and this elusive 'N-chan' still ignoring her.  
  
"Angel, don't disturb him. You should be working." Rosewater peeked his head in, scolding the child responsible for the havock, if one could call it that. She njust nodded, sliding back down in the metal, uncomfortable chair.  
  
"If I ever get one of these, the chair better be padded!" Angel remarked, replacing the equipment on her body. Rosewater sighed outside, looking at Smithy.  
  
"She could be so much better if she wanted to be. I think we should push her more."  
  
"If we pushed her anymore, she might not remember. We're doing the best we can with her, sir." Smithy spoke. His voice was unnaturally high for a male. His hair was jet black, as his eyes were. He wasn't short at all, in fact tall.  
  
"I'm sorry, Darrell, you're right. She just needs to stay on task. Out of the ten, she is suppose to be one of _them_. If she does not excel, then we will have to exclude her from it." Rosewater turned, looking into the window, watching all the children working, almost identical to each other. His hands were folded behind his back, the old man's sigh could be heard. Draw.  
  
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Big O © Sunrise  
  
Yes, another short chapter. Sorry it took so long to get this in. And Awakened will be finished when I get inspired for that! @_@ And incase anyone hasn't figured it out yet, yes, it was Angel. I said on the MB I was doing a fic on Angel, and here it is. Now, I'm planning for this to be at least 10 chapters long. Yep. And yes, I think Angel is cool, beyond all of her confused traits. For a picture of what Angel looked like before they shaved her head, go to http://members.digitalrice.com/rdw/angel1.jpg. Yes, I know she looks a bit older then suppose to, but I'm too lazy to fix it. I drew it. :D If you enjoyed, I would kindly ask for you to review. ^_^ Thank you!  
  
Gwen 


	3. Chapter 2- Cast

Pause- Chapter 2- Cast 

What had seemed forever had only been an hour, in her mind. The time of the day was morning, early morning. It was the day of the week in which most of the day, extensive learning was taught, only to trigger something within her, and the other nine children. None of them knew what the authorities had been up to, but they did not like this time of day. Gordon Rosewater oddly called it "Remembrance", but the children saw it as boring, yet still payed attention. 

"This figure shown is called a Megadeus, and in a group, are known as Megadei, according to English grammar." Rosewater spoke, voice at a possible monotone. This was something new to them. It had only been presented to them that day, and all were baffled as to what it was, what threat it could pose, and what exactly would it do for them in the future.

"Forgive me for interupting, however, why do we need to learn about this.. Megadeus?" A kid from the back spoke out loudly, all attention now on him, code name: Negotiator. The children had called him that only because he was good at it. He excelled in a lot of things, actually, but the fact that his negotiation skills were superb, gave him his name. 

"You will learn in due time, child." 

"What if we want to know now?" Another child stood up. The child who was the youngest out of them all, Elly. Her original name had been Ellen, no one knew her last name, and no one dared to find out, either. Why it had been that way was odd. The children never knew who any of them were, and that was because Gordon had somehow found a way to erase the memories of the children, only to replace them with memories of the past. Perhaps it would change the way they think, or who they are. No one knew, and that's what they were there for. The ten children were only test subjects.

"Children, stop being unruly. We must get back to the lesson, we don't want to be backtracked." Automatically assuming the kids would obey him, he pointed to the charts, and graphs in which the Megadeus picture had been near. In the far back, Angel was prepared to write on herself. It was a phrase, that out of no where, appeared in her mind.

_I don't want to forget this. So, I'll write it down on me._ "N-chan..." Her whisper spread to the other end of the room, attempting to reach 'N-chan', Negotiator. 

"What?" Not turning his head slightly, his obviously male voice crawled over to the blonde haired, blue eyed child. He didnt't sound to pleased, but of course he didn't. He hated when people interrupted him during the lesson. His competitious attitude had taken an affect.

"Do you have a pen?" She awaited an answer, not getting one. "Please?" The child's lower lip curled down, eyes beginning to fill with fake sarrow, as she slowly crawled towards him in the back row. 

"And with this ultimate machine..." The lecturer's voice had barely been heard by the crawling child. As soon as she reached him, she tugged at his pants, giving him _the face_. Negotiator was caught off guard, and gasped a little too loud. A few of the children looked behind at him, and saw Angel tugging at him.

"Angel, you better get back to your seat. You heard what G-senpai had said early." A husky voice spoke low to her down on the ground. 

"Oh, I know that, Spark!" Angel attempted to speak below a whisper, only trying to keep the face on. Another child turned around, as Spark quickly retuned himself into the lesson. Spark hadn't appeared to be as intelligent as Negotiator, but that's only how things looked. He was really bright, but didn't really realize it, either. His name had been Spark for a certain reason. He dreamed of driving a car, in a race. But no national league had existed then, and so he had only dreamed on, after he got out of the mansion, that is.

"Angel, Spark was right..." Neeca spoke lightly. Her voice was soft, but her personality wasn't. The child with green-grey eyes, she was very special in a certain field. The Megadeus had interested her since they started talking about it that day. Finally, after seeing Angel ignore her, she turned back around. Negotiator did not speak. Angel, persistant as ever, tugged on his pants one last time.

"Angel.." He sighed, searching for a pen in his pocket somewhere. He checked each pocket, even back pocket, and finally found one in his back left. "Here, now GO." 

"Thankie..." Whispering back while she crawled towards her seat, Angel took the cap off. The blue eyed child smiled brightly, sliding back up in her seat, as she tried to remember the phrase. The only word she had remembered from it all, she wrote on her arm. 'CAST'

Later that evenning, their session was finally over. The ten had accomplished a lot, even the constantly hyper Angel. They were heading back to their room, a giant room, with ten beds, ten stands, ten lamps, and millions of books everywhere. Books that had been extremely high for them, however, they _were_ trained for intelligence, and such, week, day, almost hour of their life. Though, some of the children had gotten a hold of a few children's books, thanks to Smithy, they enjoyed them. 

One by one, they walked down the pale peach hallway, passing doors on their journey, as they could spot the stairway ahead. With a rush, a few of them ran to the stairs, the tips of their toes hitting the hard wood lightly, yet pounding up the case. A few children were in no rush to get upstairs, and to the room. They were tired, and had barely any energy to run. One of the few was Philly, a child of memories not yet to be found. He claimed that where Paradigm was slowly building, that the city there used to be known as Philadelphia, and so he earned his name that way. None of the children knew what to believe, and they were only shocked to find out that the adults didn't know what to believe, either.

"Come on, Philly." Elly walked behind him, pushing him to go faster.

"Elly, please stop. I can make it up there on my own pace." She sighed, as she ran past him. Philly smiled at this, only because they were the only children who could possibly be related in any way. The resmeblance between them was amazing, and if she hadn't been the youngest, and a girl, you might not be able to tell them apart. He came to the edge of the stairs, climbing them one by one, and evntually making it to the top.

"Come on, Philly!" The young child yelled at him, her at the end of the hall, in the doorway of the room. He just smiled, nodded, and continued his way down to the edge of the hall.

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"And so the beautiful princess let down her lock of hair, blonde hair, for her prince to crawl up." One of the children read aloud, as they all were huddled in the dark. There were no windows in their room, so the only light had been artificial light, and it was night, anyway. 

"I want to be a princess..." A younger boy spoke, Pocky. He was a sweet child. A bit heavier-set then most of the others, but no one cared to notice.

"You can't be a princess, Pocky! Your're a boy!" Angel giggled, as she poked Pocky's stomach. 

"Can we please get back to the story?" Negotiator spoke, as he leaned towards the book, waiting to restart. Silence, and then he continued. Jealousy danced on Angel's face, as she sat down impatiently, awaiting her turn to read. Draw.

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Eh... This chapter was an attempt at explaining some of the other children. I still have three more to explain though. Next chapter, next chapter. =p I'm not sure if this one was as well written as the other ones. x_x Oh well. Read and review, possibly? :D

Gwen 


End file.
